Posted on Leave a comment

Winter Wx Update (Issued Wed. 6:00pm)

My reasoning has not changed since the last update. I’m still looking for 3-6 inches of snow across the plateau, with localized higher amounts possible. If sleet should mix in, totals will be less. The greatest chance for that is across the southern half of Cumberland County.

Radar shows precip moving in, though MUCH of this leading edge is evaporating before it hits the ground. In time, the flakes will begin making to us here on the ground. I hope you took my advice and got yourself home before dark. The bulk of our snow will begin when we get past that break you see just to our west. In other words, that activity in northwest Alabama and southern Middle TN is what will get us later and make roads really slick, though any of you could see precip at any time now. That ground is COLD and it won’t take long for snow to make troubles.

In earlier posts, I talked about how cold air is drier air and some snow nearly always evaporates before the majority of the snow starts making it to the ground. The pics below are of the Nashville radar site earlier. The top image is the lowest scan of the radar. The bottom image is a higher scan. Snow flakes were falling, but they weren’t making it to the ground. They are certainly making it to the ground now, though! The snow hit Nashville at rush hour….

Pretty neat, right? Notice how much precip the radar is detecting in this image below, while much less precip was being detected at the ground in the top image.

I’ve made no changes to the chart below since the last update. Now, we just wait and see!

As with any wetter snow, we run the risk of some power outages. I saw this graphic on Twitter and thought I’d share it here too. If you rely on electricity for heat and you lose that heat, here’s some advice to stay warm. Heck, even if losing electricity diminishes your heat, this could be good advice!

Don’t forget how to measure snow! (ha!) Find at least three level, out-in-the-open places and measure all three. Then, take the average. It’s even cooler if you use a Meteorologist Mark ruler. And yes, I’m working on getting you all equipped with those before next winter! 🙂

Also, don’t forget to make snowcream (aka snow ice cream)! I actually found a recipe for it! To make chocolate, dissolve a tablespoon or two (for taste) in some warm water and then add the chocolate to this exact recipe. As always, you can tweak this to taste. This may be the last good snow of the winter and it might be your last chance! Make sure there’s little to no sleet in it, though. Sleet makes it chunky and that’s not good. ha Also, no yellow snow. Never use the yellow snow.

Ok. I’ve done all I can do. I told you this was coming. I told you how to prepare for it. I told you how long you had left to prepare. I told you how to stay warm. I gave you the snow cream recipe. I made the charts and maps. You’re on your own now. (ha!)

We need t-shirts to give people who get caught by surprise by these weather events (they’re out there). The shirt would say, “Shoulda read the blog”. 🙂

Now, we wait on our snow!

I took this picture this morning. The calm before the winter storm. I love the clouds ahead of a storm system!

I took this picture this evening. That snowy-looking sky!

I’ll update at least one last time later this evening, if needed. Enjoy the snow!

Be sure to follow the blog to get updates sent to your inbox! Just find that “follow” button in the lower right corner of your screen. Thank you!

Leave a Reply